A call to action

BY ROBBY MCGUIRE
Cardinal Staff

Throughout 2008, hundreds of thousands of young Americans donated hundreds of thousands of hours in support of their respective candidates. We made phone calls, licked envelops and held signs. We shouted in support of the causes we held most dear. We made a difference. Then, we vanished.

I write this editorial not as a Democrat, nor as a Republican. Rather, I write as a young American who has become fed up with our armchair-quarterback approach to the world around us.

We certainly do not deny the chaos of the world around us. Upon seeing a need for change, we are uncannily quick to blog, Twitter and talk about it. Words do not volunteer time. Words do not clean our parks or fill an empty plate.

As the young inheritors of this potentially grand world we inhabit, we have a responsibility to step down from our ivory towers, lest we desire to see the world remain in shambles below. Critics, and even former supporters of the president, are criticizing the president for failing to live up to the great expectations we placed in him. Let this not be the presidency we hang our heads in defeat. Let this not be the presidency we hold our breath in hopes of saying “we told you so.” Instead, let us rise from our chairs. Let us step down from our towers. Let us change the world.